Metro Life Score

Winston-Salem, NC

Compiled byPlainCompare Editorial, PlainCompare Editorial Team · Updated May 16, 2026

69.8
Life Score / 100: A+
Grade (curved): #4
of 387 metros: 99%
of metros outranked

Data updated May 2026

Verify: BEA · BLS · HUD · FBI · NCES · EPA · Census

The verdict

Winston ranks #4 of 387 US metros, ahead of 99% - carried by its environment (98/100) and held back most by wages (36/100).

98
strongest: Environment: 97
then: Rent: 36
weakest: Wages: 7
weighted dimensions

Where Winston sits among all US metros

Composite Life Score vs the national field

70 Top 1% higher than 99% of 387 US metros

Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more US metros. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Source PlainCompare composite of BEA, BLS, HUD, FBI, NCES, DOL, EPA data · May 2026

How the score is built

Reading the Winston Life Score

Winston's composite score of 69.8 out of 100, a grade of A+, places the metro at rank #4 of 387, ahead of 99% of US metros. The strongest inputs are Environment (98/100) and Rent (97/100), which pull the composite upward, while Wages (36/100) and Childcare (57/100) drag it downward. (How the weighting works.)

BEA RPP 92.0 (rent-RPP 71.4). BLS median salary $63,918, 259,100 jobs (Registered Nurses, Retail Salespersons, Cashiers). HUD 2BR FMR $960/mo (studio $816).

FBI UCR (NC): 365 violent, 1930 property/100K. NCES: 15.8:1 ratio, 7.6% charter. DOL infant childcare $9,487/yr. EPA: 42 Superfund sites (NC). Ranks #1-#7 below.

Dimension detail

How Winston scores, dimension by dimension

Score Breakdown

Dimension Scores

Cost of Living 62/100 (20%)

Wages 36/100 (20%)

Rent 97/100 (15%)

Safety 92/100 (15%)

Schools 62/100 (10%)

Childcare 57/100 (10%)

Environment 98/100 (10%)

Key Data Points

92.0

Cost Index (RPP)

$63,918

Avg Median Salary

$960

2BR Fair Market Rent

365

Violent Crime/100K (NC)

15.8:1

Student-Teacher Ratio

$9,487

Infant Childcare/yr (NC)

Superfund Sites (NC)

259,100

Total Employment

Crime, schools, childcare, and environment data shown at state level where metro-specific data is unavailable.

Compare Winston With...

Winston vs Greenville Compare → Winston vs Rocky Mount Compare → Winston vs Hickory Compare → Winston vs Wildwood Compare → Winston vs Waterloo Compare → Winston vs Paducah Compare →

Ranking Context

Winston outranks 99% of U.S. metros.

Rank	Metro	Score	Grade
#1	Paducah, KY-IL	70.0	A+
#2	Waterloo-Cedar Falls, IA	71.5	A+
#3	Wildwood-The Villages, FL	71.6	A+
#4	Winston-Salem, NC	69.8	A+
#5	St. Cloud, MN	69.5	A+
#6	Wheeling, WV-OH	68.2	A+
#7	Sioux City, IA-NE-SD	66.7	A+

NC Metro Scores

Greenville, NC A+ 66.6 Rocky Mount, NC A+ 65.8 Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC A 63.4 Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC A- 59.2 Pinehurst-Southern Pines, NC B+ 58.6 Fayetteville, NC B+ 58.0

Using Winston's Life Score

Winston is a regional baseline, not a neighborhood reading, use it to shortlist, then dig into the dimensions that matter to you.

Its strongest dimension is environment (98/100) and its weakest is wages (36/100) - weigh those against your own priorities. How the score is built
Put Winston head-to-head against another metro before you decide, every dimension, side by side. Compare metros
See where Winston lands on the national rankings for cost, safety, pay and more. Browse rankings

Scores summarize federal data at the metro level; crime, schools and cost vary widely within a single metro.

Explore more

Frequently Asked Questions

What are Winston's biggest strengths? ▼

Winston's strongest dimensions are Environment (98/100), Rent (97/100), Safety (92/100). Environment is top-tier nationally.

What are Winston's weakest areas? ▼

Winston's lowest-scoring dimensions are Wages (36/100), Childcare (57/100), Schools (62/100). Wages weighs heavily on the composite.

How expensive is Winston compared to the national average? ▼

Winston's Regional Price Parity is 92.0 (8.0% less than national); rent RPP 71.4.

What is the average salary in Winston? ▼

Winston median salary: $63,918, 259,100 jobs. Top: Registered Nurses, Retail Salespersons, Cashiers.

How is the life score calculated? ▼

Winston's 69.8/100 blends 7 federal-data dimensions - see our methodology page for the weighting.

Research Guides

Data from BEA, HUD, FBI UCR, BLS OES, NCES, DOL, and EPA. Not affiliated with the U.S. Government.

Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainCompare Editorial

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

All federal data sources used on this page

U.S. Census Bureau ACS - multi-dimension demographic + housing + income aggregates for cross-area comparison. census.gov/programs-surveys/acs
BEA Regional Economic Accounts - GDP, personal income, employment by state and metro. bea.gov/data/regional
BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) - wage estimates for comparable-area indexing. bls.gov/oes
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) - crime statistics for safety-score component. fbi.gov/ucr
NCES Common Core of Data - public-school quality indicators by area. nces.ed.gov/ccd
EPA AirNow + Air Quality System (AQS) - air-quality measurements by area. epa.gov/outdoor-air-quality-data
HUD Fair Market Rents (FMR) - county and metro housing-cost indicators. huduser.gov/datasets/fmr

Every figure on PlainCompare is loaded directly from BEA, HUD, FBI UCR, BLS OEWS, NCES, DOL, EPA, and the Census Bureau, no number is typed in by an editor. This metro's Life Score is computed directly from the 7 federal sources cited above. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026.